Sunday, 6 February 2011

Boom Surgery! and Camber Sands

After breaking my boom in Brazil I searched for a 135cm boom to fit my 3.4 sail. Considering many companies sell tiny sails, there are hardly any booms out there to fit! I did find a few, but I wanted a hybrid, skinny boom for a reasonable cost! I ended up buying a Prolimit hybrid 145cm boom-really nice, stiff and light. Here are some photos of the shortening process: 3.4 rigged on 145 cm Prolimit boom. The clips were so tight they couldn't be twisted off so 10 cm of the boom arm was cut off. Due to the nature of the clips you couldn't hold them tight to twist them as the clips would be pushed into their holes. Therefore I had to saw a section out to be able to get the aluminium out. It was pretty hard, especially the second cut as the saw kept diverting! There was a little damage to the plastic in order to saw through all the aluminium. Finally the extra piece came out, I could crush the tube and twist off the clip. The old piece was used as a template for the new holes.Marking and cutting the holes accurately was the hardest part. They had to be exactly in the right place vertically and horizontally before hammering the clips back on as they couldn't be moved again. As you can see I didn't do the first ones so well and had to file the holes a lot bigger to fit the clips. After a few hours the boom was finished, now 135cm! The clips are a little stiff as the alignment isn't spot on but it does the job!

Camber Sands:I decided to sail Camber Sands on Friday with Ed Chapman as I'd never sailed there before and heard it was good! I have to say-I wasn't massively impressed. For a 1 hour 45 drive it was much like onshore witterings but with a big rip and more mushy waves. It was still fun though and really good for jumping, it would be good to go back again when it is slightly less windy. I was told not to judge it on that day though as it was 3.4 weather and can be amazing apparently! Having only sailed once after Brazil (due to working the whole time when it seems to be windy), I sailed pretty badly to begin with due to so many layers, the cold and being gusty 3.4 weather! I got a bit better towards the end getting some good jumping in. At one point the clew on my boom broke-luckily not to far out and I managed to body drag in. I found the knot on one end of the clew rope had come undone and pulled through-how that happened under tension I have no idea! Anyway it was a fun session and I'm looking forward to more wind. Unfortunately I couldn't make the most of the rest of the weekend as I had bar shifts to do! 6 weeks until Maui!!!

About Me

I started windsurfing when I was 16 on family watersports holidays once a year. I got properly hooked on my gap year in the British Army in 2005, competing and training in Egypt, Holland and the UK. During this year I saved some money for my own kit and in 2006 started studying aerospace engineering at Southampton University, joining the windsurf club. Sailing around the South coast with lots of friends provided lots of competition, and competing all around the country against other Universities in the Student Windsurf Association events gave me an appetite for competing. For the last couple of years at University I competed in the UK wave circuit, travelling to Wales, Ireland and Scotland. In 2010 after University I secured a job with a big engineering firm, Babcock, but managed to get a deferred entry and sailed in Brazil, Maui and the Canaries, competing in my first PWA event in Gran Canaria. Now I live and work in Plymouth in the UK and sail and surf as much as possible around my job.